Teaching – Australia

AUSTRALIA: April 7 – June 18, 2018

2018-05-05 Six-week class series – Sydney and Blue Mountains

Exploring Anatta: constructing and de-constructing the sense of self

ONLY TWO PLACES LEFT

Over the course of six classes, we will explore what the Buddha was pointing to when he stated that all experience is impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha), and not-self (anatta). Focusing particularly on the aspect of anatta, we will approach this key teaching in a variety of ways, to help understand how it leads to greater ease, happiness, and freedom in our lives.

Each two-hour class will include a short dharma talk, some silent meditation practice, dyad (pairs) practice, and small group discussion.

During the six weeks of the course, you will be invited to maintain a regular sitting practice and keep a practice journal, to help inform the discussion during each meeting.

The course is best suited to people who have an established meditation practice, have sat at least one seven-day silent insight/vipassana retreat, and have some familiarity with the core Buddhist teachings (eg the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness). Feel free to contact Jill if you have any questions about this.

Dharma talk – Sydney

One-day workshop – Sydney

Dependent Arising, or Dependent Origination, is the Buddha’s account of the principle of causality – the law of cause and effect, or action and consequence.

Everything that exists or happens is an outcome of the circumstances – the causes and conditions – that gave rise to it. This simple yet profound idea is a foundation of the great Buddhist insights of impermanence, emptiness, not self and karma, and understanding it fully supports Awakening, the deepest freedom of heart and mind.

In this workshop, a follow up to last year’s workshop on anatta (not self), we will use meditation, dyad (pairs) practice and small group discussion to explore Dependent Arising and what it means for us and our practice.

It is not necessary to have attended the previous year’s workshop, but prior insight meditation retreat experience and/or study of the Buddha’s teachings would be beneficial.

AUSTRALIA: 6-28 July 2018

Seven-day study retreats with Bhikkhu Anaalayo – NSW

6 May 2018: due to recent cancellations, one place available

Bhikkhu Analayo is a German scholar-monk and the author of Satipatthaana: The Direct Path to Realization, Perspectives on Satipatthaana, and Excursions into the Thought-World of the Pali Discourses. He is a Core Faculty Member at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and a professor at the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg.

This course will undertake an in-depth study of mindfulness meditation based on a comparative study of the three extant versions of the Satipatthaana-sutta, where besides the well-known version in the Pali Canon, two parallels have been preserved in Chinese.

The course is meant for experienced practitioners of meditation only, who wish to deepen their understanding of the canonical source material. While based on the academic method of research, the emphasis throughout the course will be on what is of practical relevance to actual meditation practice. The course will combine study and discussion sessions in the mornings with meditation practice during the rest of the day.

AUSTRALIA: June-August 2019

International Sakyadhita Conference – Blue Mountains, NSW

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

“New Horizons: Buddhist Women Rising to Challenges”

Whether Buddhism is relatively new to a country or has been there for thousands of years, rapidly changing conditions are creating great challenges for Buddhism. Some are the same as past challenges and some are new. Buddhism has always managed to adapt to new conditions, while balancing the values of Dharma with the demands of the present. This time, for the very first time in history, women are central to the challenge.

The Planning Committee of the 16th Sakyadhita International Conference is looking for proposals for paper presentations, workshops, and poster sessions for the Conference. Fitting the theme are any genuine concerns and practical discussions on issues related to how Buddhist women would have risen to the challenges in the past and will continue to do so in response to the various forms of new challenges that the modern times present to us and ask us to solve. More personalized perspectives based on one’s own experiences will also be welcome.

This year, our paper presentation program will be much reduced (maximum 20 presentations will be accepted), as we will be adding more workshops, a new poster session, as well as interactions in various other formats. Those who are interested in presenting their thoughts related to our theme are most welcome to consider submitting a proposal.

Proposals for papers, workshops, and poster sessions (250 words maximum) must be submitted by September 1, 2018. Notifications of acceptance will be sent in October. The workshop presenters and poster presenters should submit their plan, and will receive further details upon having their initial proposals accepted. Upon acceptance, papers are due by January 15, 2019, and should not exceed 1,700 words (approximately 3 pages in a 12 pt font, single-spaced with a 1-inch margin), as the paper presentation time is set for 15 minutes. The final versions of these papers will be translated into several languages including Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese, and posted on the conference website and accessible to conference attendees.

Further suggestions are welcome, and if you would like to show films please contact the planning team at program@sakyadhita2019.org.au. All speakers and workshop/poster presenters must register for the conference.

*Dana

In most Buddhist traditions the teachers are not paid to teach. Instead, the teachings are given on a ‘dana’ basis – dana being the Pali word for generosity or giving freely. At the end of the course, participants are invited to reciprocate this generosity by offering dana to support the teacher. Jill is an independent meditation teacher and is not financially supported by any meditation centre or Buddhist organisation. She relies on dana for her livelihood, and pays for all the expenses incurred in offering a retreat, including most international airfares, herself.